ABSTRACT
The chapter attempts to show how The Mahābhārata probably missed being designated the first epic of humankind. In addition to demonstrating that The Mahābhārata precedes The Rāmāyana, the chapter also advances the hypothesis that it belongs to an age much earlier to Homer’s Iliad.
The Mahābhārata is regarded here as a two-part structure: the part which follows the Kurukṣetra war is considered apara (post)-Bhārata. Drawing the reader’s attention to a notion of ‘post-truth’ probably current already during the times of the composition of the corresponding parvas or ‘books’ of the Indian epic, it intends to show that apara-Bhārata is such a post-truth.
The chapter also considers the writing of Uttara Rāmāyana, a treachery perpetrated on the original Rāmāyana and bringing it to currency as part of the original epic, ascribes it to Valmiki. Issues related to śīla (morality), pātivratya (devotion to husband), and chāritrya (character) as treated by Vyasa, Homer, Valmiki, and Virgil have been viewed here in a comparative perspective.
